


Once I Called You Brother

by gracethescribbler



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Rebels, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Brothers, CT-7567 | Rex Needs a Hug, F/M, Feels, Fulcrum, Gen, Implied/Referenced Torture, Mind Control, Minor CT-7567 | Rex/Ahsoka Tano, Order 66, POV CT-7567 | Rex, Post-Betrayal, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Rex and Anakin Feels, Rex is a BAMF, Rex is a good bro, Undercover, Undercover as chipped, mostly - Freeform, vader feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-19
Updated: 2020-04-01
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:33:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 20,060
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23207791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gracethescribbler/pseuds/gracethescribbler
Summary: Rex can't leave his brothers alone to serve the Empire after Order 66, so he goes with them and pretends to be under the control of the chip so he can help them escape. Dealing with what's left of his brothers and his General turns out to be the hardest part.
Relationships: CC-2224 | Cody & CT-7567 | Rex, CT-7567 | Rex & Anakin Skywalker, CT-7567 | Rex/Ahsoka Tano
Comments: 47
Kudos: 343





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! This is kind of a purely self-indulgent fic that got way out of hand. It was just supposed to be Rexsoka, with some angst there, but then it turned into mostly other sadness with Rexsoka to bookend it and make it happier. This has about 5 chapters so hang in there!
> 
> There aren't enough RexVader feels in the world so guess who decided to write some.
> 
> Please leave comment if you enjoy!

Rex and Ahsoka run together towards the troop transports, with his brothers’ blaster bolts singeing the air around them with near-deadly accuracy. Ahsoka’s limping already, but they are fast enough that when the landscape changes and they take a sharp turn away from the transports, Rex’s brothers don’t seem to notice, and when they seem to have a clear moment, they stumble to a stop, heaving for breath, and look around. His _vode_ are between them and the transports - Rex doesn’t know how they can get past them. They stand there, panting quietly, staring towards the equal danger and safety of the 501st ships, both of them wracking their minds for a solution to this, a way to get them both offworld. It’s Ahsoka who finally slumps and says, softly, “We’ll have to wait them out.”

She’s right. As she turns to put more distance between them and the transports, to find somewhere to hide on Mandalore’s scarred fields, Rex tries to follow. But as he turns his back on his _vode,_ tries to walk away, something stops him. He tries to focus, but he can’t - he stops, looks back, and Ahsoka notices and turns to face him.

He can’t make himself leave. To walk away from his men now, to abandon them… It’s impossible. They are his brothers, the people he’s promised to protect. He had known that the chips in all of their heads were dangerous, and he had not found a way to save anyone but himself and Kix, who had listened to him. His brothers are doing this because he failed them. The Order that came over his holocomm had affected them, but not him, because of the biochips, and now everything they are seems buried, twisted up. He used to have nightmares, about this, and Tup’s loss showed him what was coming - _good soldiers follow orders._ Something is wrong with his brothers now, they are not themselves. Rex feels almost as responsible for this as if he had given the order himself, because he knew how to help them. And now he could never forgive himself for letting them be used like this without trying to help.

“Rex,” Ahsoka says, “Rex, come on.”

For a moment, Rex is ready to go with her, torn by the idea of leaving her to fend for herself. He should go with her. She can’t travel alone, because they’ll be hunting her, he’s sure of it. Whatever is happening, she’s in danger, and so is Anakin, and almost certainly every other Jedi he’s ever fought with. He had always promised her, with a kind of fatalistic hope, _I won’t leave you. I promise._ Even though he wouldn’t promise anything more than that, even as he was always sure this war was going to kill him before they could end it - he had still promised.

But his brothers have no one else but him. And he knows how to help them, that’s the main sticking point - he can save them, he knows it, if he has the chance, so he can’t leave.

“Ahsoka…” he says, and words stick in his throat. He thinks she recognizes what he’s about to do before he does it, because her face falls. “I can’t leave them,” he says, low. How can it hurt so badly to say it when they both know it’s true? He doesn’t want to leave her, either, and it feels like a betrayal, to choose them over her. But they need him more, they always have. “I know how to help them, Ahsoka, if I didn’t try I- I could never forgive myself.”

She’d asked him to call her Ahsoka, when they arrived on Mandalore. He hadn’t. He’d kept to formality, because there was still so much in the way. Later. He’d always told himself that they’d have time for all the things she seemed to be asking him for, before she left. He’d thought that someday when she looked at him and touched cool fingers to his cheek he could kiss her back instead of telling her that they couldn’t, he’d thought that someday when the war was over and she asked him what he wanted to do with his freedom, he could tell her he’d like to travel the whole galaxy with her. He had always hoped that they’d have time in the future. When the war was over. When it was done.

But he can’t, now. Because the war’s not ending at all, and there’s still no time, and his brothers still need him far more than she does. She’ll find Anakin, Kenobi, someone. Senator Amidala can offer her somewhere to stay, if it comes to it. Right now, he can protect her, buy her time to leave, and then he’ll save his brothers too.

Ahsoka shakes her head a little, and he knows she’s going to argue even though she clearly knows there’s no convincing him otherwise. “What are you going to do, Rex, they know you didn’t try to kill me and you can’t take on the whole battalion alone.”

Rex smiles at her, wry, though she can’t see past his helmet. His throat is burning and he feels like he might cry. “I’ll tell them I tricked you and shot you out here. You can hide and take a chance to get away when we’re gone.”

“You’re going with them.” She’s exhausted, and seems hollowed out now.

“I have to.” He almost whispers it. _Please understand._ “I’m sorry.”

She’s quiet, for a long minute, looking at him, and she has the same resigned look on her face she has so often had when he’s pushed her away and said _not yet._ Then she looks down and unhooks her sabers from her belt, which confuses him briefly until she presses them reluctantly into his hands. “They won’t believe I’m dead if there’s no proof,” she tells him.

He swallows. “I’m sorry,” he repeats. “Thank you.”

She nods, and he draws his blasters and fires a few blasts into the ground, knowing that will draw attention. And then all of a sudden Ahsoka’s arms are around his waist and her forehead is pressed against his cuirass, and he blinks back tears and hugs her back, tightly. “Be safe,” he says.

“You too.”

He waits until she’s disappeared from view before igniting one of her sabers and scoring smoking lines in his armor, cutting one of his DCs in half to drop on the ground. Without a body, maybe they still won’t believe him. But this is as good as he can do.

He runs back in the direction of the battalion, meets them by the transports where they’ve fanned out in a search formation. Jesse almost shoots him anyway until Rex holds up her sabers, forces indifference and formality and contempt. “She’s been eliminated,” he says, and Jesse takes one saber, consideringly, then looks at him and nods once, saluting.

“Good work, Captain,” he says.

Rex aches. And behind Jesse, with the rest of their squad, Rex can see Kix, who gives him the smallest nod.

Rex will have to get Kix the chance to leave, too.

That happens when they arrive on Coruscant at the GAR barracks. They are being ordered to join other battalions at the Jedi Temple - Rex can only assume they are meant to try to take the place over. Before they do that, though, he peels off from the squad for a moment, claiming he needs a new blaster, and Kix meets him in the armory, where Rex has pulled his helmet off and is struggling to breathe regardless. Kix yanks his helmet off too and all but crashes into Rex, pressing their foreheads together and shaking his head a little. “She’s alive?” he asks, as if he really needs to, his voice not even a whisper.

Rex nods. “She is. She’ll be okay.” He’s afraid to say it out loud, but he does anyway. He wishes Ahsoka hadn’t given him her sabers, knows that really she could have demanded he come with her, could have just said his plan wouldn’t work if she wasn’t really dead and they would have gone. But she helped him instead, and he owes her to make it worth it. “You need to go,” he says, and predictably, Kix shakes his head.

“No,” he snaps. “No, I can’t leave Jesse, and you can’t do this by yourself, Rex.”

“I’m not. But if I- When I get our _vode_ out, I need somewhere to send them. Someone who can help them.”

Kix’s expression hardens, and then he steps back. “That’s why I have to stay,” he says, quietly. “How are you gonna get their chips out, Rex?”

Rex has to admit, suddenly, that he doesn’t know. That he had overlooked that because he managed his own chip surgery alone with a GAR meddroid. He looks down, rubs his hands together, hard. “Kix, I-”

“Shut up.” Kix forces a smile. “We’ll make it work, Captain. We’ll get them out.”

“I know.” Rex nods, and that’s it. He chooses a new DC, not modified like the old, and they rejoin their brothers.

He learns that all the Jedi generals have been killed by their own troops. He learns that Kenobi, General Koon, Secura, Windu… they’re all declared dead. And unlike with Ahsoka, it’s not a lie. And he and his battalion are sent to the Senate building to guard it from attackers, from Jedi.

There’s no word about Anakin.

Nothing makes sense. Jedi keep dying. Brothers keep coming back to Coruscant and all of them act wrong - not like people, and not like themselves. The Chancellor announces that the Jedi are traitors to the Republic, which he calls an Empire, now. Admiral Tarkin, seemingly unphased by the turn of events, reviews the troops, and demands Ahsoka’s lightsabers from Rex. “You killed her yourself, did you not, Captain?” he asks, and Rex forces himself to be steady.

“Yes, sir.”

“Excellent. Her lightsabers, please.”

Rex knows he can’t keep them. He knows there’s no reason for him to keep them, no reason for him to argue that he ought to hold onto them. He still has to steel himself to keep from shuddering as he takes the weapons off his belt and hands them to Tarkin. The Admiral looks satisfied, settles his arms behind his back with the sabers in hand, and looks him over. “Torrent Company has a new designation,” he says, offhandedly. “You, and those like you who have proven yourselves against the Jedi threat, have been given an assignment straight from the Emperor. Some of the Jedi have managed to evade our forces, and some may try to continue their uprising. You will be part of a force to address this threat.”

Rex’s heart drops in his chest. “Yes, sir,” he says.

That is when Rex finally finds Cody again.

In the GAR barracks, when the rest of their new Jedi execution force has assembled, when Rex’s own Torrent Company is mingling with Ghost Company and some others of the best of their brothers, the elite. Then Cody, in his familiar armor, strides up to Rex and nods to him. “CT-7567,” he says, and something in Rex breaks. But he promises himself he’ll fix this. He has to, this is why he’s here.

“CC-2224,” he says, his voice even. “Good work.”

“Likewise.” Cody looks around. “Who is our commanding officer, have they told you?”

“No.” Rex shakes his head. He would have assumed Cody, but if not Cody, then… Who would they put in charge of a Jedi-killing force that is not already here? Surely not the Emperor himself, or Tarkin.

Cody grunts in acknowledgement, and they all stand in ranks at attention, waiting. That too is so unlike them - before, brothers who were waiting for a new assignment, or to meet a new commanding officer, would never be standing in silence, not moving, not speculating on who the new commander would be. But there’s not a murmur out of Cody, or Jesse, or any of the others.

The barracks’ door opens, and a tall, grim figure sweeps through it, footsteps heavy and slightly disjointed on the smooth floor. The figure wears all black, a cloak and armored boots and chest piece, and a helmet with inhuman eyes, bulging and unblinking. Their breath rattles through a modulator, and they are carrying a lightsaber in one gloved fist.

Rex realizes, immediately, that this is some kind of Sith, and he glances at Kix and begins to arrange his mental shields, quietly, because if a Force-user pays too much attention to him, they’ll know that he’s not like the others. He knows Kix will be shoring up his shields, too. They had learned, as cadets, how to protect their minds from control and persuasion, and over the course of the war Rex had only strengthened those mental shields, because if nothing else, he would be assured of his own thoughts.

Here, he knows this may be the only thing that will protect him.

It’s one thing for him and Kix to pretend that they’re under the control of an inhibitor chip to natborn officers, or even their brothers. But how are they supposed to keep their emotions in check well enough to fool a Sith, who can feel their emotions? Rex’s shields have withstood Sith before, but this is all so much - what if he can’t do it?

He forces those thoughts away, determinedly, and breathes in and out. What is it Ahsoka used to say, about the Jedi releasing their emotions? Maybe he can learn to do that, somehow - to let go. For now, he imagines that he feels nothing. He imagines that he’s not afraid, not struggling, and he forms his shields tight around his mind.

The Sith strides slow and methodical over to them, and Rex feels his spine straighten at attention, and he is grateful for his helmet. The Sith’s head turns slowly, as they take a long look across their ranks, then their black gaze lands on Rex himself, and their fists curl and open at their sides.

“Captain Rex.” The Sith’s voice is sonorous, deep, rasps unnaturally, and sends a horrible chill through Rex’s chest - he forces himself to be still. Who is this? Why does he know Rex’s name - and why is he singling him out? Gods, Rex can’t fail now. “You are the one who killed Ahsoka Tano?”

Rex nods once. “Yes, sir,” he says.

The Sith is just looking at him, and there is nothing to read from his posture, his helmeted face, his curled fists. Rex looks back at him and does not let himself be afraid. “You will be acting as my second in command,” the Sith says, and then looks at the rest of them. Rex sees Cody stiffen, almost as if he’s bitter. Maybe he is - he should be second in command, if rank were being observed. “You will address me as Lord Vader. You will report directly to me, and work to weed out the last of the Jedi threat.” He adjusts his gloves, and his faceplate turns toward Rex again. “You have already proven yourselves quite capable.”

Rex knows he’s missing something about this Sith. Is it the one Kenobi has been chasing after, Maul? Another assassin of Dooku’s? Dooku himself? He doesn’t understand, and he knows he can’t ask questions, and he can’t afford to be distracted from his purpose by trying to look into the identity of a Sith. The fact that he is a Sith, and is killing the Jedi, is enough.

Vader turns as if to go, and then turns back and looks straight at Rex again. “Get your armor replaced, Captain,” he says. “I see the Jedi damaged it.”

Rex inclines his head. “It will serve, sir.”

The Sith makes a thoughtful sound, then sweeps out of the room, his boots sounding like thunder on the floor. Rex chokes back a sigh of relief and doesn’t let himself relax. “At ease,” he tells the others, and they settle into parade rest. He thinks they are unhappy with the turn of events - he is a Captain, and an NCO at that, and there are two marshal commanders and several battalion commanders among them. He should not be the second in command, yet here he is.

“Well, CT-7567,” Cody says, his voice definitely colored with bitterness. “You got your promotion.”

Rex nods tersely. “It appears so.”

For what feels like a long time, but is in actuality only a few weeks, Rex simply tries to learn the terrain. They’re installed in a different barracks, one which was clearly used for the Coruscant Guard previously. Their bunks are divided into smaller rooms, twenty bunks to a room. Rex claims a bunk over Kix’s, the two of them in the corner of the room, which feels more private, so that they can take some comfort in each other when they are surrounded by the indifference of their _vode._ Rex learns the layout of the barracks and the connected mess, medbay, training rooms, armory - all originally GAR, but no longer. The armory fills up with new gear, which none of his _vode_ touch - it’s even poorer-quality plastoid, shiny as hells, flimsy and doesn’t fit for shit. They have their original armor, and they continue to wear it, although it earns them derision from the incompetent new natborn troopers and the officers whose disdain is fiercer, crueler than it once was.

Vader doesn’t come back, not for a few weeks. And Rex grows more and more overwhelmed by what he has become embroiled in, the fact that he and Kix can barely make a move that no one else knows about, the fact that they don’t know how to get any of their brothers through the surgery and keep them quiet and sane enough afterward to hide it all from Vader.

“I can’t do this,” Kix tells him, in a soft, breathy Mando’a whisper, just once, when they’re in the mess. Their first assignment is looming - they’ve been tracking General Unduli for a week now. They’re going to take her in and then kill her. Rex can’t think about it. Why is he doing this? “Rex, what are we doing? We can’t even use our own brothers’ names.”

“We’ll get them out.” Rex feels just as sick, lets that come through so that Kix knows that he understands. “We just need more time, Kix, it’s gotta be worth it. We can- help more people.” Kix glances up at him, his eyes narrowing, and he knows Kix catches the double meaning in his words. That they can’t just help kill the Jedi. That they need to try to save them, instead.

“Rex…” Kix says. “We can’t fix everything at once.”

“I know. But we have to save everyone we can.”

But they aren’t able to save Unduli. Vader reappears to go on that mission with them, and Rex does not have a strategy yet, and neither does Kix, and their force was chosen because they are the ones who know Jedi, who know how to fight Jedi.

Vader is horrifically strong. That is what Rex takes away from the strike, because although he remembers General Unduli as being an intelligent fighter, good with the Force, Vader finishes their fight in a matter of minutes, and Rex and Kix have to help drag her back to Coruscant and throw her in a cell - her capture is televised, her execution is unceremonious.

In the middle of the night, after it all, when Rex is sure the others are sleeping, he curls up small and tries not to cry: for the General, for all the Jedi, for Ahsoka and Anakin and Kenobi, for his brothers. Not for the first or the last time, then, he thinks that he can’t do this.

He and Kix learn how to slice into the medbay cameras. Learn that small pieces of equipment, like surgical pieces, can be pocketed and kept. Learn that Vader is gone more often than not between assignments, or during their smaller missions. Learn that these things will allow them to do what they have to. The first brother they manage to get to the medbay is more a lucky move than a skillful one, a younger clone named Denal whom they pull from the barracks at night. They take out his chip, and are there when he wakes up to quiet him, to tell him it’ll be okay, they’ll get him out, it’s alright.

It’s touch and go, too close, too hard to help him, but they make it work.

There are a few others in the months after that, but Rex doesn’t know how to get them out of the Empire. The clones have no leeway, although they still have more than most. They are hated, and feared, and Vader knows everything they do - Rex doesn't know how to sneak his brothers away, or where to. Cody and Jesse know him and Kix too well - they have to keep a tight hold on their emotions and a tighter hold on their actions and words. Rex sometimes feels that he is going to forget his brothers' names altogether, so he lies awake at night and reminds himself of their names. Cody, Jesse, Bly, Wolffe, Gregor, Akaan, Ket, Brii, Boil, so many of them. And then he silently says his remembrances of the dead, with Anakin and Kenobi's names included in the list of the dead, although a part of him still hopes that somehow Anakin is still alive.

Ahsoka is not dead. It's a small, but genuine, comfort. He knows he hurt her, he knows she may miss him, but she's alive and thus far she's safe, and that's the important thing. Sometimes, Rex still finds himself imagining a future where they would not be in a war or fighting or hunted, and they would just be able to be them. With his brothers and his General close by, too.

None of that can happen now. But it's comforting to imagine.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm impatient and I wanted to go ahead and post this. I enjoyed working on this fic too much, and I've enjoyed the reactions to it I've gotten so far! Comments are greatly appreciated. :)

Rex is beginning to feel uneasy about Vader's treatment of him. There is nothing about the Sith that doesn't already set him horribly on edge, but Vader is the only one besides Kix who now uses Rex's name. He brings up campaigns that Rex was a part of as if expecting him to look back on them with pride, when none of the troopers are meant to be so inclined - the details he knows sometimes feel so personal, specific. He often asks Rex what they ought to do on their missions, and seems almost amused by Rex's determined disdain of the Jedi traitors. Rex feels as if he's being toyed with, as if the Sith must know he is lying and is stringing him out before he kills him. Rex clings to his story that he killed Ahsoka, that he tricked her by going with her and shooting her in the back, buying himself enough of an advantage to kill her. Vader does not seem to doubt him, but still. His behavior frightens Rex, and the only thing he concludes from it all is that this Sith must have been familiar with Rex before all this happened. Maybe he's a Jedi turned to the enemy, then - that might explain things. It's a chilling thought, but Rex knows all too well that it's not impossible. But he tries not to focus on the identity of Lord Vader, and merely keeps himself shielded away, safe where he knows no one will recognize that he's still himself.

There begin to be rumors of resistance. Precious little, barely a murmur, but it still sparks fear and hope all at once in Rex's chest. Rumors of surviving Jedi and former local authorities showing their faces, although not for long. The Empire has added Senators to their watchlists, Organa and others among them. (Senator Amidala, Rex had learned, is dead. He finds himself almost missing the woman he'd barely known but who had always spoken on behalf of his brothers and who had been so important to Anakin.) Rex feels something like hope, although he fears for anyone who would put themselves in the Empire's way - he has done enough killing for the Empire, in the year since he left Ahsoka, to begin to feel as if the Imperials are right and there can be no winning against them.

But he tells his brothers that's how he'll get them out. There's some ten of them, now, who he's managed to help with Kix, and there is small comfort in that. But he needs a contact, a place to send them, if he's to get them out, and he doesn't know who. But maybe, if there's resistance somewhere… They could help his brothers. The first thing he chooses to do is sort out a commlink - he has a standard-issue Imperial commlink, but it's monitored and he doesn't dare use it to try to help his brothers. An encrypted commlink is hard to come by, but will be necessary if he wants to get anyone out of the Empire to a safe haven. At the end of the day, instead of finding one already encrypted, he is forced to take a standard civilian comm and modify it himself, slowly and carefully, with what he and the others in his squad can offer about slicing and security. It's not official, by any means, but Rex thinks it's effective. He has no one to comm with it, but it's a start. And as he helps look into threats of resistance, there is some information he keeps safe to himself, a few names. Ideas. They are all suspicious that Bail Organa is encouraging resistance, but it's Rex who finds an informant who tells him that it's true, Organa is offering resources, he has a network. Rex takes all the information he can get and kills the informant so they can't threaten Organa anymore. He tells the others the informant was full of shit, parroting things he must have heard on the holonews but with no new data. And the next time things are quiet, and Vader is offworld, Rex hides himself in an empty supply closet and uses the comm frequency the informant gave him.

It's not a direct line to Organa - the Senator would not be so foolish as to give that information to anyone, but Rex reaches a secretary or assistant of some sort. "I need help," he tells them, afraid that this is a trick, that someone will hear him. "I have people I need to get away from the Empire."

It's not easy, getting them to listen to him, to trust a man whose comm signal comes from the heart of the Empire and is encrypted with a rubbish of cobbled-together code that no sane tech would have created. When they finally allow him to speak to Organa, he admits that the people he wants saved are clones, and Organa's anxiety is almost audible in the dead silence that follows.

 _"I am, of course, willing to house the servants of the Empire,"_ Organa says, as if feigned loyalty would fool a real Imperial investigator now.

Rex cuts him off, sensing that he is about to lose this connection, a chance for his vode. "Please, Senator, I have to get them out of here," he says, feels desperation lacing his voice. "They're not Imperial, I promise, I know it sounds crazy but I've been saving them and I need to get them somewhere safe, but I've had no one to help."

There is silence on the other end of the comm, for a long time. _"Who am I speaking to, really?"_ Organa asks - Rex has refused to give a name, and he sticks to that now.

"An old friend," he says, instead, wearily, and then adds, hesitating, "An old friend of the Jedi."

There is more silence, then an audible sigh. _"What would you have me do, then, if you are a friend?"_

"The clones," Rex says. "Help me get a way to smuggle them safely out of Coruscant. Vader's Fist has men who need to leave, there were chips in their heads that controlled them but those chips are gone now and they deserve to get to be free.”

 _“I know about those chips,”_ Organa says, surprising Rex. Maybe he heard from Ahsoka? Who else would know? That steadies him, somewhat. Ahsoka must have contacted Organa after all. _“I… understand your predicament. Therefore you must understand mine, if you are lying to me.”_

“I’m not.” Rex knows it’s not enough assurance. “Please, just help me get one of them out, see I’m not lying to you.”

 _“We can arrange something,”_ Organa tells him. _“And we will see.”_

The first brother whose chip they had removed, whose name is Denal, is the first one they smuggle free, while they are on a routine scouting mission on a planet where they’ve heard rumors of Jedi - Organa has sent a small squad, who Rex and Denal meet quietly, and they take Denal from him and promise to get him safe. They don’t tell Rex where, which is for the best. The rest of the Fist, spread out as they are in their own search patterns, do not notice his absence, and it is not until they are about to go back to Coruscant that Rex knows they have seen that Denal is gone. “Where’s Denal?” he asks, sharp and gruff, and the others look around.

They spread out again to search the area for their missing brother. But he is gone, and there is no trace of Organa’s squad.

Rex is suddenly concerned that he won’t be able to hide the relief he feels from Vader, when he sees him again.

Finally, he’s done it. One of them is free.

He finds himself wishing he could tell Ahsoka. It’s worth something, he wants to tell her. They’ll be okay, and maybe I will too. Because with an outside contact… He can get his brothers out, yes, but maybe he can warn Organa about the Empire sometimes, too, save more Jedi. And then… someday, if they’re very careful, he and Kix can leave too.

They only risk getting four more brothers out, over the next few months, before Rex forces himself to stop for a while - Vader has noticed the disappearances, demands answers from Rex for his carelessness with his forces, and Rex swears to increase his vigilance, apologizes for his failure, and then tells his brothers they’ll have to wait a little longer.

Rex feels, oftentimes, as if his whole life is a waiting game. But it’s worth it, he reminds himself, to see his brothers finally getting the freedom they’ve deserved for their whole lives.

For a long, almost easy year, the Fist’s numbers dwindle as Rex sees almost all of the brothers he and Kix de-chipped taken to safety, through disappearances, through claiming that some of them were killed. Although Vader grows deadly furious that somebody - their enemies, he insists - is picking off his personal forces, Rex’s encrypted comm is undiscovered, and even Cody doesn’t seem to doubt Rex’s feigned anger and confusion.

That, however, is when things begin to unravel.

The resistance, which had previously only been ideas and shadows that the Empire suspected and hoped to quell, becomes something more serious. Organa still seems (officially) unconnected, but there are small skirmishes and rumors of reappearing Jedi. In response, Vader sends Force-users after the new threats - he calls them Inquisitors, and Vader’s Fist murmur to each other in discontent about these Force users who poorly wield red sabers and try to exercise authority over them as if the clones are not actually Vader’s most privileged allies. The Inquisitors call them by their numbers, and Vader does not correct them, which feels oddly like a betrayal. Rex doesn’t know what to do with that feeling, when he has it - Vader is a monster, a killer, the most dangerous person in the Empire and the biggest threat to Rex, personally. And yet Vader is also the only person anymore who uses their names, and Rex supposes he had thought Vader’s defensiveness of them might be more altruistic than it really is. Vader wants them respected as his Fist, his reputation, and that is all, and Rex should have known that.

Sometimes, later, Rex will wonder if that was true, or if there was something left in Vader that did care about them. It will hurt too much to dwell on.

They learn - that is, the Empire learns - that Ahsoka is alive after Vader has begun to send out his Inquisitors to farther systems. Rex and his brothers have not been assigned a mission in some time. Things are quiet enough for that, it would seem. Perhaps Vader is simply breaking in his new weapons. Rex hasn’t been sure. But he has removed the chips from Gregor and Wolffe and Boil, and it is those three and himself and Kix who are free, now, and none of the others.

They are resting in their barracks, taking care of their kit and not speaking to each other, as is painfully common, when Vader comes in. It is probably only Rex’s rigorous maintenance of his mental shields that protects him, on this day, because Vader storms into the barracks with his cloak swirling around him, anger radiating off of him like black smoke, his hands in fists and his posture combat-ready. They all scramble to their feet, snap to attention, but Vader ignores all of them except for Rex.

Rex is grateful for years and years of control that allow him to remain unmoved as Vader strides up to him, into his space, crowding him against the bunks behind him. Rex is not wearing his helmet, and wishes that he was, but he pretends that he feels nothing and hardens his expression.

“Ahsoka Tano is alive,” the Sith snarls, his voice pitched even lower than usual, threatening. “Tell me again, Captain Rex, how certain you were that my old apprentice was dead.”

Rex’s heart stops, and for a moment, he can’t even think.

Some part of him recognizes that this is a tactic to unbalance him, Vader’s attempt to shock him into a reaction, if he is not under the control of a chip like he is supposed to be. That awareness is the only thing that keeps him standing where he is, that keeps him from reacting. That and the feeling that he can’t move. Can’t move or he’ll start screaming or do something else foolish. His old apprentice. How can Ahsoka be his old apprentice unless-

The rest of Rex’s brothers look shocked, too, chipped or otherwise. Maybe that is what saves him, too, that the rest of them are equally bewildered.

“Well?” snarls Vader, and Rex makes himself answer.

“I don’t understand, sir,” he says, stays at attention although he wants to defend himself, because Vader’s hand settles over his red saber.

It’s not a lie. Rex doesn’t, can’t understand what he’s hearing. Ahsoka was never Vader’s apprentice, Vader is a Sith, has been leading them against the Jedi this whole time - Anakin is dead, the reports all say so, there’s no chance- Rex will not fall for whatever trick this is. Vader does not know Ahsoka. (Vader is not his General.)

Vader looks around the barracks, then back at him. “Let me explain it to you, then.” He leans forward, slightly. Rex still doesn’t move. “You have assured me, Captain Rex, that my apprentice was dead when you left her. You had her sabers, which was more proof than I received from some.” He glances at Cody, who stiffens - Cody had not retrieved either Kenobi’s body or his sabers, but had sworn that even Kenobi could not have survived the fall he took. Although none of them have doubted his success, likely not even Vader, Rex suspects that no one was happy there had been no real proof. Then Vader’s eyeless gaze is back on Rex, and Rex lifts his chin, although there’s panic hollow in his stomach. “And yet she is alive. My Inquisitors fought her themselves. One of them, she killed. Now tell me, Captain, if she was not dead, how did you take her weapons from her?”

Rex nods, once, and finds himself praying to the Force - as if the Force has ever been particularly helpful to him before. “Sir, I took them off her body. I had every reason to believe that her injuries were too severe for her to survive.” He shakes his head slightly. “I assure you such an oversight will not happen again.”

“She was not dead, when you left her, then,” Vader says, and Rex hesitates.

Some part of the truth, to hide the rest of his lies. “No, sir.”

“And you did not finish the job.”

“No,” Rex admits. “I believed she would die of her injuries, sir, and certainly could not survive to be a threat without her sabers.”

Vader is quiet, for a moment. He seems to be calculating Rex, and Rex refuses to do so much as swallow, although his mouth is as dry as if it was filled with sand. “A weakness, perhaps,” Vader says, “for this particular Jedi.” The phrase is too close to the truth, sounds so knowing. This cannot possibly be Anakin. But Rex can’t shake how easily the Sith has pinpointed what Rex wants to hide.

Rex curls his lip, shakes his head. “Nothing I am proud of, Lord Vader.”

“Indeed.” Vader takes a step back, but there is something resigned about that word, too, and Rex can barely breathe. He can’t fail now. “If you indulge such weakness again, Captain, you will cease to be of use to me. Old, mistaken attachments must not inhibit us.”

“I will not disappoint you, sir,” Rex says, bowing his head.

“No,” Vader agrees, “I trust that you will not. Your loyalty has always been refreshing.” With that, the Sith turns on his heel and storms back out of the barracks, with a quelling look at the others in the room.

As the door shuts behind him, Rex wants to sink onto his bunk and bury his face in his hands, wants to look to Kix and the others for support. Instead, he breathes out a little and glances around to gauge the response in the room.

It’s Cody who finally says something, in an almost-too-quiet voice, careful. “I thought General Skywalker was dead.” It surprises Rex, some, that anyone even commented on it - they don’t ask questions, anymore. But he supposes it’s too insane an idea not to question. Anakin was their General, one of the most popular and strongest Jedi the war effort could boast of, a friend to some of them, and someone they all at least respected. It makes sense that he would have died with the rest of the Jedi, why wouldn’t he have - if Kenobi is gone, then Skywalker is too. Either dead or safe somewhere with Ahsoka. Rex can’t believe anything else, he won’t.

“Guess not,” says Bly. At the others’ looks, he shrugs and says, “Makes sense to me.”

They are quiet, for a moment, thinking, then Jesse nods. “He was friends with the Emperor. Emperor Palpatine must have made him understand what the Jedi were planning.”

Rex’s thoughts are running headlong in a similar vein, about how Anakin had seemed so withdrawn and exhausted at the end of the war, how he had gotten angry more easily, had admitted to Rex that he couldn’t understand why Ahsoka left. Rex had asked him, once, what if Fives was right? What if the Chancellor did try to kill him? Anakin had told him there was no way, the Chancellor was a good man and a good friend. And for all that Anakin is on the list of the dead, Rex has not met a single 501st _vod_ who could tell him how Anakin died. Rex had taken that to mean Anakin could be alive, before, but he hadn’t thought it meant he was alive and- No. It’s not possible. Anakin is dead. Vader is not Anakin, not Rex’s General, who was near enough to be another brother.

And yet. Vader has used his name since he began commanding them. He named Rex his second-in-command when higher-ranking _vode_ stood in the same exact room. And he stood there, called Ahsoka his old apprentice, spoke of Rex’s loyalty.

Rex feels as though he’s going to be sick, but he can’t betray those emotions now, so he glances at the others and says only, “I don’t see that it matters,” and they go quiet.

Cody’s looking at him too sharply, too knowing. Cody has always known him too well, and Cody was the one brother who Rex spoke to, back during the war, about his feelings for Commander Tano, about how he wished things were different.

But Cody does not say anything about that now, and Rex knows why. Because Rex is the only brother who knows how Cody had watched Kenobi, behind his back, and had lost more than one sleepless night trying to help his General when he knew, he told Rex he knew, that Kenobi would never realize what Cody wanted. What Cody was too careful and too proud to ask for.

They have their secrets between them, even now. It makes Rex’s chest burn.

Vader will be watching him, now - perhaps Rex has deflected the worst of his suspicion, but he can’t give Vader any more reason to mistrust him, and if a brother went missing now… Vader would begin to put the pieces together himself. He may already be doing so.

Rex hardly knows what is happening, what his brothers are doing, only that he can’t let them see that he’s afraid, that he almost wants to give up, now.

How can Vader be Anakin? How can the Sith who killed Unduli and Vos, the Sith who made them hunt down padawans who escaped the Purge, the Sith who is the Empire’s greatest weapon, how can he also be the Jedi that Rex had trusted more than almost anyone else, who had sacrificed time and again to protect his troops and his friends?

Rex had always understood that Anakin was angry, for a Jedi, and sometimes rash. But cruel?

He can’t understand it.

That night, he leaves the barracks alone, finds somewhere to be alone, to pull his knees up to his chest and press his forehead to them and cry, feeling as if he’s going to come apart at the seams. He left Ahsoka, and she’s not here to help, and Cody is still trapped in his own mind, and Anakin is- Anakin is gone, and Rex is alone. He doesn’t know why he thought he could do this - he’s alone, and so stupid, to think he could save anyone from all this.

At the end of it all, what really hurts, when Rex has cried until it hurts too much to cry anymore and he’s just huddled against the overwhelming weight of where he is, what has happened, is that Anakin would do this to him. Rex ought to be concerned about everyone else, but for a while he just feels small and abandoned, as if no one has ever really been there for him, after all. How could his General do this to him, after everything, how could he let someone treat the _vode_ like this, how could he look Rex in the face and have the _audacity_ to talk about loyalty? Rex spent years with Anakin, he would have trusted him with anything - he _did_ trust him with everything.

Now the one person outside of the _vode_ who Rex would have called “brother” is ready to dispose of him if he makes one wrong move. Some part of Rex is playing images on loop, of Umbara, during the war, of General Krell and his brothers dying and how, when he came back, Anakin swore that if he had been there, he would have killed Krell. _I’m sorry I wasn’t there,_ he’d told Rex. Once upon a time, Anakin had promised that he wouldn’t abandon them again, and Rex had assured him that wasn’t necessary, but he had believed him. He’d trusted the promise, because why shouldn’t he? Anakin was supposed to be someone who wouldn’t take advantage of his loyalty, Anakin had helped him save Echo and trusted his judgement and now-

Now Rex finds anger and pain and loneliness twisting up together in his chest so tight he wants to scream.

It’s Kix who comes and finds Rex, in the end, early in the morning before they would usually be awake. Kix’s face is blotchy and tearstained, although it looks as though he has stopped crying some time ago.

Rex hasn’t been able to make himself move from where he’s huddled up in the mess, although he knows he has to. He recognizes, dimly, that the despair he’s feeling is dangerous, could get him killed, the others too. But he doesn’t want to face Vader again, doesn’t want to face the new reality that Anakin is responsible for all this hell, that all that is left of his General is a monstrous shell. Kix sits by him and puts a hand on his back, gives him a bracing look.

“You gotta come back before they miss you, Rex,” he says, gently.

Rex looks down. He feels too heavy, and like he might cry again. “Kix, I can’t,” he says, the words scraping his raw throat. His friend winces in sympathy, passes him a canteen of water. Rex drinks, numb.

“You know why you’re here.” Kix sounds tired, too, but there’s an undercurrent of fierce determination in his voice that Rex can’t match. “Rex, he was testing you. If he sees you’re struggling, he’ll know you’re free and he’ll get rid of you and he’ll keep you from helping our _vode._ From seeing Commander Tano again.”

Rex shudders. “I know. I know, Kix, but I- I can’t do this, he was-” Words fail him, and he shakes his head.

Kix sighs, shakily. “I know.” He’s quiet, then says, “You and I are all they’ve got, now, Rex. If we stay here, if we can make this work, we can get them away from him. And we can warn the Jedi who he is, that he knows how to find them. If- he catches us, we at least won’t have taken it lying down.”

Rex closes his eyes, takes deep breaths, fighting the paralyzing pressure in his chest. “I know,” he whispers. Kix lets him breathe, for a moment, and Rex focuses on what Kix says.

Vader was trying to rattle him - because if Rex reacted to the discovery that Vader was Anakin, if Rex became sloppy, unfocused, emotional, then Vader would know he was a threat. If he continues as he has done, Vader will trust that he is controlled, and may relax his guard again so that Rex can continue to work against him. Kix is right, Rex can’t abandon the others because he is hurt and afraid himself. They need him. He did this for them.

He opens his eyes, looks at Kix, and nods. “I need caf,” he says, rubbing his eyes, and his brother smiles tiredly.

“Well, we’re in the mess,” he says. “Breakfast?”

“Breakfast.”

Somehow, they rally themselves. There is a discussion, with the others they’ve helped, about when they should risk trying to get more of them out, and slowly things return to a semblance of normalcy. But Vader does not seem to trust Rex anymore, and his questions fall more to Cody and the others, and he seems to be watching Rex as they set out hunting for a Jedi again - for Ahsoka, this time.

They do not find her. Rex keeps Organa updated, now, about their movements and Vader’s reconnaissance, and he begins to plan how to save Cody and Jesse and the others who will be hardest to sneak away. Despair turns into determination and something painfully close to hatred - anger is easiest. Easier to hide than betrayal and pain, and much easier to motivate himself with.

After they help Boil escape, Vader seems to be growing paranoid, questioning Rex and the others about what they know about it. His look falls on Rex, more often than not, when they’re out in the field, and Kix tells him that Vader has come in twice now while Rex has slipped out to comm Organa, asking where he is, and has been unsatisfied with their uncertain answers.

The next time Rex comms Organa, it’s not the Senator who answers. Instead, it’s a jumbled-sounding voice, like it’s coming through a vocorder, and Rex almost hangs up in a panic. “This is Fulcrum,” says the voice, and Rex lets out a soft breath, relieved. They’ve heard rumors about someone calling themselves Fulcrum, involved with the resistance, but they haven’t known who that might refer to. Clearly Organa knows, though.

“Do you have the authority to speak for Senator Organa?” Rex asks. “Or do I have to comm back? It’s urgent.”

There’s a long pause. _“You’re his informant with the Fist, aren’t you?”_

“Yes.” Rex glances around although he knows no one can hear him. “Can you speak for him or not?”

 _“I can,”_ they answer. _“What is it?”_

“I hate to ask for this,” Rex says, “I know it’s not a small favor. But I think I’ve- done as much as I can from here on Coruscant. I think we’re gonna need an extraction.”

Fulcrum makes a considering noise. _“That isn’t simple. But of course after all you have accomplished, we will do what we can. How soon do you need it?”_

“As soon as you can,” Rex says, glances around again. “I… have reason to believe Vader suspects me.”

There’s another pause, and then Fulcrum says, _“We’ll do our best. I’ll speak to Bail.”_

Rex nods, relieved, and thanks them for their time. Ends the comm, gets to his feet, and quietly opens the door to the supply closet.

Comes face to face with Vader, whose head is cocked slightly to one side.

“Captain Rex,” he says, smoothly, and Rex snaps to attention, drops his hand from his belt where he has just slipped his commlink into one of its compartments.

“Lord Vader,” he says, surprised. Surprised only to see the Sith right in front of him. Not because of what he was doing. There is nothing for him to hide. He makes it a mantra to help his shields. There is nothing for him to hide. He meets Vader’s black-visored eyes and breathes out slowly. “What do you need?”

“Hiding in closets are we, Rex?” Vader asks, almost amused. “Your fellow troopers did not know where you were.”

“CT-6116 is short on bacta, sir,” Rex explains. “I made a mistake with requisitions - I hoped there would be extra somewhere, at least a medkit.” It’s not a bad lie. But it doesn’t matter, because he can tell Vader has already made a conclusion of his own. A correct one, likely. Vader paces around him, slowly, and Rex stands very still, itches to better hide his commlink - destroy it, even.

“Sloppy,” Vader hums. “It is unlike you to forget something so crucial. You found the bacta, though, it would seem - that’s good.”

“Sir?” Rex says, and realizes his mistake.

“You put something in your belt,” Vader says, a smile in his tone.

Gods, he is playing with Rex, now, and suddenly Rex feels furious, finds himself gritting his teeth and wanting to tell Vader to stop beating around the bush and just accuse Rex of something. Instead, he inclines his head. “No, sir,” he says. “Just my commlink.” A dangerous truth, but safer, now, than a lie.

“Give it to me.” Vader’s voice goes low, threatening, and Rex recognizes an attempt at Force-persuasion - but that has never worked on Rex. It doesn’t matter, though, because if he refuses to hand over the device, it will be immediately obvious that he has communications to hide. He doesn’t think Vader can learn much from the comm itself, but he can’t let him keep it. He really has no choices now, though. He reaches into his beltpouch and passes over the commlink, casually, his heart pounding.

Vader turns the device over in his gloved fingers, then looks at Rex again. “This isn’t a standard-issue comm.”

Rex shakes his head a little. “It’s just one I’ve had for a long time,” he says. “It’s more reliable, I think.”

Vader steps toward him again, and when he speaks, his voice is a low, rumbling threat. “Why do you need a second commlink, Captain?”

“I don’t, sir.” Rex shakes his head. “It’s not important.”

“No. Of course not.” Vader’s fist curls around the commlink and it sparks, crunches in his hand. Rex doesn’t move, feeling as if that same hand is about to lock around his throat. How could he have been so careless? “Get back to the barracks,” Vader growls. “Tell your medic you didn’t find his bacta.”

“Yes, sir,” Rex says, and he knows some of his fear must slip through, because Vader’s chin lifts and he turns, leaves, all satisfaction.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all ready for the fun times? You should be. I appreciate all the comments and everything!
> 
> Stay safe and healthy in these trying times and if anyone wants more fic, you can hop over to my tumblr (@gracethescribbler) and send me some prompts because I'm bored.

All Rex can think is that it’s over. He’s lost his means to contact Organa, he’s lost any remaining leeway he had with Vader. He doesn’t know why Vader has let him go so far, but it can’t last. Steeling himself, he strides back to the barracks and, looking around, signals to Kix, Wolffe, and the others to join him. There’s not much point in being subtle now - he has to get them out.

They step outside the barracks and Rex glances around before hissing, soft, “He caught me on my way back from talking to our contact.”

“Force,” Kix breathes, eyes going horrified. “Rex, what the hells?”

“He took the comm.”

“Fekking _hells,”_ Wolffe swears. He curls his hands into fists. “Why are you still alive, what did you tell him?”

“I told him it was just an old comm, that I didn’t know what to do with it. I don’t know. I don’t know.” Rex rubs his face. “Wolffe, I need you to get the message out. Okay? However you can, you tell the contact we need pickup next time we’re off Coruscant, and to expect a trap. You tell them we’ve been made.”

Wolffe nods, jaw clenching. “I can manage a comm,” he says.

“What about the others?” Kix asks, softly. “How are we going to be able to do any more surgeries now? Vader’s not going to give us the time.”

Rex shakes his head, going over the options in his head. “I don’t care. We can try to make it work. I’d rather get caught trying to get more brothers out than wait for Vader to come kill me.” He pauses, then shakes his head. “But if any of you- don’t feel comfortable-”

“Don’t give us that shit,” Gregor says, almost laughing, eyes fierce. “Might as well go out shooting. The rest of us can help tonight, make sure you don’t get caught. Who are we helping?”

“As many as we can,” Rex says. “Cody and Jesse and Brii, at least.” If they’re to stand any chance of getting out, of bringing some of the others, they can’t have Cody and Jesse fighting them, and Brii is one of Rex’s youngest brothers from the old 501st - the kid was always one of their gentlest brothers, an artist who didn’t much like fighting, who loved to paint his armor every other week. Watching his colorful patterned armor grow chipped and dull with neglect has been hard - Rex wants to let him be able to leave.

It occurs to him that he and Kix will be able to get out now, too. Maybe… Maybe he can find Ahsoka, before he refocuses on extracting more brothers himself. Maybe once he’s left… He can take a break. Let his brothers help save their family. Maybe he’ll have time to rest.

But not yet.

Vader is still on Coruscant when he, Kix, Boil, Bly, and Gregor take their three _vode_ out of the barracks that night under heavy sedation and take them to the medbay, and Boil and Gregor stand watch while Kix, with a deft efficiency born of practice, cuts the inhibiting biochips out of their heads and applies liberal amounts of bacta and bandages. Wolffe sits on one of the medbay bunks and writes out a comm to send to Organa, safeguarding it as well as possible against prying – Organa has encryptions against comms to him being tracked, and Wolffe isn’t under suspicion like Rex is, so his comms won’t be monitored the same way.

Rex is sitting with Cody when he wakes up - he’d insisted that Kix perform Cody’s surgery first, because Cody is the most experienced and therefore the most dangerous of their brothers, ARC-trained and a veteran like Rex himself. It’s the early hours of the morning, and they’re all exhausted, but Rex is still wide awake when Cody shifts, cracks his eyes open in the dim medbay lights, and winces. He doesn’t move again for a while, except to lightly test the restraints they’d put around his wrists and ankles to keep him from doing anything rash when he woke up - Rex knows Cody well enough to be able to tell that he is taking stock of the situation before he does anything. It’s another little while before Cody’s eyes open, and Rex hears his breathing hitch and speed up, and then Cody looks at him.

“Rex,” he says, his voice rasping. Rex smiles at him, puts a hand on his shoulder, as grounding as he can. When they removed Wolffe’s chip, Wolffe had panicked after he woke up, had tried to take one of Rex’s blasters, and they’d had to hold him down and sedate him. That week had been touch and go, with him - they had had to appeal to him by asking him to focus on helping the rest of their brothers, by asking him not to do anything that would compromise Rex and Kix’s position. Rex can see a similar terror and guilt creeping into Cody’s expression.

“Good to see you back with us, _ori’vod,”_ Rex says, softly, squeezing Cody’s shoulder a little, and Cody closes his eyes tight and Rex feels him shudder.

“Gods,” Cody rasps. “Rex. Rex, I’m sorry-”

“It’s okay.” Rex reaches down and pulls Cody’s restraints loose, quietly. “It’s okay, you’re gonna be fine now.”

He can tell, though, that that’s not true just yet - eventually, he knows, they’ll be alright, but Cody chokes a short laugh that turns into a muffled sob, and Rex sighs and pulls his oldest brother bodily against his chest, holding him tight as Cody tries to stifle both sobs and apologies and can’t quite manage it. Rex says that it’s alright, that it’ll be okay, and knows he can’t really argue when Cody snarls that _it’s not fine, Rex, I killed him, I-_

Rex finds himself murmuring apologies of his own. _I’m sorry he’s gone, Codes, I’m sorry I didn’t help sooner. I’m sorry I’ve had to pretend I didn’t care._ Mostly, though, he rubs his hand up and down Cody’s spine and tries, unsuccessfully, not to cry. Elsewhere in the medbay, he can hear Kix and Jesse both crying too. Rex thinks Cody’s going to shake apart in his arms and doesn’t think he could even let go if Vader himself walked in.

It’s a long, long night. Rex isn’t even sure how they manage to get back to the mess before the others have arrived there themselves. Rex explains to them that they’re going to get out, that this was the only choice, that when they go to Lothal in a few days either Organa is going to help them escape or they will have to get away themselves.

“Vader knows now that I’m working against him,” Rex says. “I think he’s waiting for me to slip up, to give him information he needs. So we can’t. Wolffe told Organa the situation - if Organa thinks it’s too dangerous to come, he won’t, but it’s now or never for us, so…”

Lothal will be the closest they can get to even terrain - it will just be them and Vader and their brothers who are still under the chip’s control. Even if Organa doesn't send anyone for them, if they are careful - maybe most of them will be able to escape. It's the best shot Rex can give them, anyway.

Cody and Jesse and Brii aren't doing well. But clearly giving them something to do is grounding, and it seems to be enough that they aren't acting any differently when the rest of their brothers join them in the mess with annoyed looks, as if their being awake already is personally insulting.

Vader goes off on some private mission with his Inquisitors, that day, which should be reassuring but actually only terrifies Rex. Maybe Vader has set some sort of trap, expecting Rex to have been calling for an extraction from Coruscant. Maybe it's just that Vader's completely confident they have nowhere to go if they were to try to run. Maybe it's none of those things and Vader knows what they've told Organa after all and is going after Organa and his little half-formed rebellion right now.

Rex watches the holonews and tries not to think about it. Easier said than done, but nothing seems to come of any of it, and Vader comes back furious and tells them nothing except that they have their mission to Lothal the next morning and that he expects total compliance. Rex suspects that those words are only for his benefit, but he can't help but be afraid that Vader knows about everyone else he's managed to free, too.

He reminds himself, though, that if that were the case, Vader would probably kill them all now and have done with it, instead of risking a mission with some of the few people besides other Force users who could have threatened him, once upon a time.

Small comforts.

Lothal is mostly grass.

Rex has never been here before, but the landscape is nothing remarkable - grassy plains that stretch on for miles, low-lying urban areas and a few odd dunes amongst the plains. They are there chasing rumors of Force-sensitive children, supposed incidents among the civilians that were substantial enough to warrant their attention.

Rex has no idea if anyone’s coming to help them, and it’s making him so anxious he’s sure Vader must be able to feel it. But he’s nothing if not stubborn, so he continues playing at being under the chip’s influence and stays out of Vader’s way. Vader, seeming equally determined to pretend that nothing has happened, treats Cody as his second-in-command instead of Rex, hopefully unaware that Cody’s just as free as Rex is.

And just as trapped. But that’s nothing new.

They follow standard procedure for such missions, questioning local Imperial authorities (who are always thankfully, foolishly unaware of the rumors that have reached Vader’s ears), asking careful, threatening questions in bars and other centers of local information. Really, though, it’s how they learn the terrain - in most cases, they catch their quarry trying to run, or else they flush experienced Jedi out with threats on the civilian populace.

It’s a dangerous, brutal method, but it always works - well, most times. Not when the Jedi has been warned ahead of time.

But that’s only worked a couple times, and today Rex isn’t sure Organa was able to do anything.

Gods, he wants to get out of here.

Then, as their company regroups in the town square, Rex realizes that some of their number are gone. A few brothers who had still been chipped, and Boil. Something warm and expanding thrills in his chest, and he glances at Kix, hoping his younger brother has noticed it too.

Vader glances around, then he looks at Rex and then at Cody. “Where is Boil’s search party, Commander?”

Cody, smoothly, without missing a beat, says, “His squad saw something - may be nothing, but I ordered them to follow up on it.”

Vader makes a discontented sound, but he doesn’t question Cody, and Rex sees a certain amount of tension leave his shoulders. He hasn’t sensed Cody’s emotional upheaval then - which makes sense. Cody has an uncanny, and likely unhealthy, ability to shut himself down when he has to. Rex is the only person that’s ever been able to recognize what it is that Cody is trying to hide. Here is no exception.

Throughout the rest of the day, slowly, Vader realizes that his search parties are not coming back. Cody feigns concern and surprise as Brii and Gregor and Bly and others all fail to come back from their searches, and Vader begins to look for them.

Rex is impressed by the quiet way Organa has chosen to help - the Fist is still a large remaining force, but by evening it is only Rex, Cody, Jesse, and Kix left of the _vode_ who had their chips removed. And that is part of the problem - they are the ones who will have the most difficulty leaving, now, because Cody is acting as Vader’s second and Vader knows Rex is a threat. Vader has been increasingly watching Rex, as if he believes the disappearances are his fault. As yet, he has not asked. Were Vader like Anakin, he would have turned on Rex already and demanded answers, would have accused him of calling down insurgents, would have a fist around his throat. But Vader has a patience that Anakin did not, and it’s more dangerous than Anakin’s recklessness.

Rex knows that the rest is mostly up to him, now - the four of them will have to create their own disappearance. So, as they storm through Lothal, trying to find and recover their missing troops, Rex keeps a sharp eye of his own for a signal, for familiar faces, something. Most likely, the rebels will have ships outside of the city, safely hidden. They will have chosen a route with excellent concealment for anyone coming back, which is more important than getting to the ship quickly - stealth and safety will have been prioritized over efficiency in this case. Rex considers what the landscape had looked like, outside the city - there are taller fields of grass and some of the odd dunes more to the northeast, with a sprawling zone of rickety huts. That, he thinks, would be the best way to go - perhaps the locals could tell him differently, but that is where he would go if it were his decision.

But how can he get himself, Cody, Jesse, and Kix away from Vader and the Fist and towards the ships without leading them straight there? Based on the tactics the Rebels have used, Rex can tell they don’t have the firepower to fight Vader and some dozen elite clone troopers. Somehow, they will have to sneak away, when Vader is watching Rex like a hawk, on high alert.

The beginnings of a plan are forming in Rex’s thoughts, but he doesn’t like where it leads.

If he is the one Vader mistrusts, if he is the one Vader won’t take his eyes off of… Maybe the others should just go. Surely Rex can buy them time to get away, if he creates enough of a distraction.

As they march toward Lothal City’s public shipyards, Rex’s plan becomes more concrete, and he feels his heartbeat growing fast and painful in his chest. He knows what to do, if he can only communicate it to the others.

They won’t agree. But he needs them to.

Their helmet comms still have private channels - he and Kix have used them on past missions, but now Rex comms Kix and patches in their two other brothers. “I have a plan,” he says. “Vader won’t let me out of his sight, you all know it.”

Rex can almost feel them getting angry, hears a snarled, “Don’t you dare, Rex,” from Kix.

“I’m right,” Rex presses. “I’ll get out. I swear. But when this goes to shit, you get yourselves out of here and run northeast, you saw those taller grasses. Just get out of the city, Organa’s people will probably find you.”

“No.” Cody sounds on the edge of desperate, fury disguising the emotion. “They’ll kill you, Rex, you don’t get to do this.”

“I promise I’ll get away. Codes. But I can’t think of anything else.”

“Don’t lie to us,” that’s Jesse, bitter. “We know you better.”

Rex does not quite believe that he can get away. But he does believe he has a shot, and he’s not lying when he promises. He didn’t come this far just to give up - he’s just willing to sacrifice if he has to, to get the job done. Rex takes a deep breath, looks around. “Jesse, I’m going to try to steal a ship. Vader suspects me, but not you, so he won’t notice right away if you run if he thinks I’m threatening him. I can do this. Okay?”

There’s swearing, but then Kix speaks up, quiet and solemn. “He’s right. We’ll get out, Rex. So long as you do.”

“I know,” Rex says, and turns off his comms to block out their remaining objections.

Then, as they turn past a crooked side street of shops and piled crates and refuse, Rex slips his blaster, the old one, modified specifically for him, out of its holster softly and fires a bolt into Vader’s leg with a quiet exhale.

In the chaos that follows, as he bursts into a run and muscles past shouting and momentarily-confused soldiers to try to get away, he knows that his vode have the space they need, enough time to disappear.

Rex makes it only block away before he suddenly can’t move, something seizing like tar around his limbs, stopping his cold and still in his tracks. He struggles against it, swearing, trying to break the hold, but of course Vader’s will doesn’t give, and he eventually stops fighting, simply waits until Vader paces around in front of him, limping slightly.

The Force around Rex eases, so he can straighten, which is of little comfort because Vader is holding his saber and his breathing rasps ominously as he looks Rex over.

“Clumsy, Captain,” he tsks, holding out his empty hand for Rex to hand him his blaster. Faced with the threat of Vader’s lightsaber, Rex grits his teeth and passes over his remaining DC-17, the weapon he’s relied on for over four years. Then, defiantly, he reaches up and yanks off his helmet, lets the anger and disgust that he’s felt since he learned who Vader was burn in his chest and bares a fierce smile.

“I don’t know, I think it went okay,” he says. It feels good, for now, to be himself, to be angry, to have a moment to say exactly what he thinks about his gods-damned general failing him.

Vader shakes his head slightly. “Who is attacking us, Captain? That’s your doing, I assume.”

Rex feels the attempted persuasion again, and laughs. “Yeah, you could say that,” he snarls. “You oughta know better than to think you can intimidate me by now, Skywalker.”

The dig, or perhaps the name, has the desired effect - Vader practically growls and steps closer to him, heavy and deliberate. “Skywalker was weak. You would be wise not to underestimate me.”

“I don’t,” Rex says, low certainty making his voice soft. He knows, logically, that he may be about to die. Or worse. But there’s something that feels euphoric about getting to be himself, about facing a threat head-on instead of lying and hiding. He tilts his head to one side, narrows his eyes. “How have you liked having the perfect obedient troops, Skywalker? They compliant enough for you, now that they can’t think for themselves?”

Vader rasps something like a laugh. “That is not my concern.”

“I know,” Rex says, his anger hot in his throat. “Lucky for them, it’s mine.”

Two things happen at the same time. First, a hail of high-caliber blaster bolts shatters the relative quiet of the street, shattering cobblestones around them and cutting through his brothers’ plastoid armor like it’s nothing, shearing through Vader’s cloak and singing his arm before he can get his saber ignited, so that the Force holding Rex in place is gone.

Second, Rex draws his second, standard-issue blaster pistol and slams the butt of it so hard into Vader’s masked face that he hears a crack and a stifled growl of pain.

Then, in a haze of smoke and exhilaration, Rex runs.

He doesn’t know who helped him, and he doesn’t stop to figure it out, just flees down the street, taking random turns through alleys and back ways, but always heading for the shipyards. He’s not a good enough pilot to evade Anakin fekking Skywalker. But if he gets enough of a head start… Maybe.

It doesn’t last.

He hears fighting behind him, but also people coming after him, and as he dodges down a side street blaster bolts sear the walls beside him - his brothers don’t miss easily, and he knows he has to lose them or else be killed.

As he thinks it, pain erupts in his right calf and he stumbles, catches himself on one hand and keeps going, heading for one of the doors into a building - he needs barriers between himself and the blasters, he needs to get away.

Just as he’s grabbing the handle of a door, throwing his shoulder against it, another bolt tears into his side, and he doubles over, wrapping an arm around his middle, wavering, and there are blasters up and pointed at him so he dives for cover behind some crates, not fast enough to completely avoid the next shot that hits his shoulder.

He huddles up, touches the burning wounds and shifts back as much as he can although he knows it’s not much use. He should draw his blaster and fight back, he begins to, but they’re still his brothers, after all this. Still his brothers.

Then, as he peers carefully around the crates with his hand tight around his blaster, Vader’s low voice growls out, “Stand down,” and the blasterfire stops as Vader sweeps past the few troops at the mouth of the alley, and Rex swallows before doing the only thing he can think to do and slowly, painstakingly, pushing himself to his feet. It hurts, but he lifts his chin and stares straight at Vader, who’s still limping and carrying his saber ignited and humming at his side.

“Let’s finish it, then,” Rex says, fiercely, one hand tight around his blaster and his other arm around his middle. He doesn’t stand a chance, really, he knows it, but that’s never stopped either of them before. He shifts, levels his blaster pistol at Vader’s chestplate, pulls the trigger and isn’t surprised a bit when Vader snaps up his saber to deflect the blaster bolt. But Vader doesn’t move, otherwise.

“Don’t be foolish,” he says, and signals to the squad - Rex recognizes the sign, just has time to be afraid before a stun blast hits him and everything goes dark.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a little shorter than the past few, but never fear, the last chapter will be longer. I admit, I had even more ideas for where I could go with this fic and I might share some of them when I get to the last chapter - I just really like writing all kinds of Rex angst post-Order 66 because I feel like it's an under-explored situation.
> 
> TCW S7 continues to Hurt Me but man y'all, those Bad Batch eps just really hit different, you know? I'm still so sad Rex is so lonely. If Ahsoka ends up that lonely I will riot but also I will smoosh them together in fic so they stop being so lonely.
> 
> Anyway, please do keep leaving comments, I've appreciated every one of you! Stay safe out there!

He wakes up alone.

He hurts all over, but it’s more a dull burn than anything else, which means he must have been given some pain medication - his armor is gone too, entirely, and his weapons, which is the worst part.

Slowly, Rex opens his eyes and looks around. He’s in a prison cell - dark and durasteel, small, and he’s lying on a hard cot that’s bolted to the wall. There’s nothing else here of note, and no way to see out of the cell. He feels his heart rising in his throat, but he sits up, carefully, and sets his palms flat against the cot. If he’s still alive, it’s because Vader wants something. Likely, he’ll be looking for information about Senator Organa or how Rex has been planning things with him or maybe how Ahsoka escaped. There’s a chance Vader just wants to gloat. Whatever the case, Rex expects he’ll die soon. That doesn’t feel new - it’s been most of his life, certainly every day since the Jedi were killed. He just has to be sure that whatever Vader may want, he doesn’t damn well get it.

Rex’s brothers are safe and far away from here. That’s all that matters.

He is left to his own thoughts for a few hours, before there’s the hiss and beep of locks being unsealed, and the door to the cell opens to reveal Vader, alone, who paces into the cell and then closes the door behind him. His boots are heavy on the floor and there's a large crack across the cheek of his mask. Rex grits his teeth and stands, folding his arms across his chest. He hates that a small part of him still wants to fall into parade rest. The anger is a good feeling.

“Sit,” Vader says.

Rex does not.

That seems to annoy the Sith, but he shows surprising restraint and merely tilts his head slightly, looking Rex over. “So it isn’t an accident that Ahsoka Tano survived,” he says.

“No.” Rex can’t help a small smile, although there’s nothing good about this. But however badly this has gone for him, he’s glad he saved Ahsoka and he’s glad he saved his brothers.

Vader makes a thoughtful noise, turns around and walks a short distance away, adjusting his gloves. “So she must have allowed you to take her lightsabers, did she not? Or is it true that she was injured.”

Rex hesitates. “She was injured,” he lies, smoothly, “and I told them she was dead.”

Vader glances over his shoulder at him. "I am not interested in hurting you, Rex." There is something so strangely honest about the sentence that it makes Rex angrier. "I want to offer you a choice."

And, completely shocking him, Vader reaches up to the clasps of his mask.

Rex finds himself frozen, horror and dread and a need to know all coursing through him at once so that his heart beats faster, throat closing up. Vader removes the mask in pieces. First the helmeted piece and then, more carefully, the front of the mask with its bulging eyes.

The face that Rex sees is familiar and yet horribly wrong. The man in front of him is unmistakably Anakin Skywalker - more gaunt and pale, yes, with hair shaved close to his head and scarring across much of his face, but still. It's him.

All except the eyes. They burn yellow-orange, merciless, and Rex swallows a little. It was much easier to do this when Vader didn't look like Anakin at all.

Rex reminds himself not to let his emotions show on his face, and determinedly meets Vader's eyes. He doesn’t even know what he feels, so he makes himself smile slightly and say, “I think I preferred the mask on.”

Anakin’s- Vader’s face twists a little, because clearly he still doesn’t know how to hide what he’s feeling without the mask, but he doesn’t say anything about the jab and instead shakes his head slightly. “Your help has been invaluable to me over the past year,” he says, and it looks as if he really believes that is a compliment, but it makes Rex feel sick. “Even if it’s clear you’ve just been waiting to betray me.” He sounds almost hurt, angry, as if he is the one here who should be disappointed.

Rex grits his teeth, chest tightening. “I didn’t come here to help you,” he snaps. “And I’ve hated every minute of this.” He thinks that a long time ago, he wouldn’t have let his anger out so easily, but there’s nothing stopping him now and he feels as though he’s earned this, at least. He’s not a Jedi, and anger is an old friend when all you do is lose.

Vader shakes his head again. “Don’t be so hasty, Captain Rex,” he says. “You haven’t heard my offer.” He waves one hand, loosely, then tucks his hands behind his back. “I need someone I can trust, with me - my Inquisitors and our squad are effective, but their loyalty only goes so far. You have betrayed the Empire and aided our enemies - the officers plan to see you executed, but I would much rather put your skills to use.” Rex frowns, and Vader fixes him with a searching look, something between threatening and hopeful. “Your alternative to execution is to resume your position as my Captain.”

The suggestion is so ludicrous that Rex’s immediate reaction is just to laugh, short and sharp, and he shakes his head, shifts his weight off his injured leg. “You may as well kill me, then,” he says, sharply.

Vader doesn’t look surprised at that reaction, although he does sigh impatiently. Rex finds it hard to keep looking at him, the longer he does, but he refuses to look away. “Your loyalty to the Jedi is misplaced,” he says, which reminds Rex that this isn’t Anakin, because Anakin would know better than to think Rex is concerned primarily with the Jedi. “They betrayed me, they never did anything for you - their foolishness was prolonging the war. You should be well aware of the fact that the Jedi were not what you think.”

Rex steps forward, involuntarily, arms dropping to his sides, hands curling into fists. “You don’t get to talk to me about that,” he spits, fierce. “You’re standing on thin _fekking_ ice, _Lord Vader.”_

Vader leans forward slightly, eyes narrowing. “You’re so sure they’re the innocent ones, aren’t you? Do you want to know why I have to wear this suit, Rex, and the mask?” He doesn’t give Rex a chance to answer. “Kenobi betrayed me and left me to burn on Mustafar, and it was the Emperor who saved me. That’s where being loyal to the Jedi will get you, Captain Rex, don’t be fooled. They were traitors and they paid the due penalty.”

Rex’s eyes scan over Vader’s burned face, the breathing apparatus that still hisses ominously with every inhale and exhale, and the black suit with its life support panel. He knows Vader has metal legs in place of the old and that what had once been his only remaining arm is also a prosthetic. Another experiment at making a man into a machine. But from what Rex has seen of him now, what the Empire has done, what it must have taken to make Kenobi hurt Anakin so badly… “Did he do this to you before or after you forced my brothers to kill people they’d served with for four years?” Rex hisses, low. Part of him, as he asks the question, realizes that he’s asking for Cody - _did my brother really kill his General, did you make the nightmares come true._

“I didn’t send out that order,” Vader says, dismissive.

“You still led us into battle all the same.” Rex’s throat hurts and he should know better than to antagonize Vader, who has reacted to every challenge with violence and swift retribution. But gods, Rex has spent his entire life holding back everything he wants to say, and if he’s going to die anyway he won’t die without having said exactly what he wants to say. “You let my brothers be enslaved in their own goddamn minds and I had to come save them because they’ve never had anyone care about them but me.” Once upon a time, that had been a little different, but Anakin’s promises were lies and everyone else who had cared is dead. “So don’t you _dare_ ask for my loyalty, Skywalker, and don’t you _dare_ tell me you didn’t deserve to burn. It’s just a shame Kenobi didn’t finish the job properly.”

Vader straightens, pulling back, lips twisting in almost a pained snarl. He doesn’t look like he’d expected this at all, so Rex steps forward again, nearly toe-to-toe with what’s left of his old General, his friend and brother, squares his shoulders and lifts his chin. “I trusted you and followed you for years, and I would’ve died for you. And you destroyed everything I ever cared about except what I saved from you, including your padawan. The way I figure it, this is all your fault.” He smiles slightly, although everything’s aching so much he could almost cry, but he makes himself laugh a little. “Go on and let your officers execute me, Skywalker. Some people would say it’s long overdue.”

Vader turns on his heel and paces away from him, across the cell, his hand visibly tightening around his mask. It’s something like restraint, Rex thinks, telling him that either Vader still needs more information, or he is stupid enough to think he can still convince Rex to listen.

“If you claim you found Ahsoka Tano injured and took her lightsabers,” Vader says, abruptly, without turning back towards him, “then why did your brothers report that you and she ran together, before you came back and said she was dead?”

Rex swallows but doesn’t let himself worry - he wishes he could have lied to Vader, convinced him that he knew as little as possible, but he should have known it was a poor lie. It will be alright, still, he will still protect them. “I don’t know,” he says.

“You are not as good of a liar as you think you are,” Vader tells him, and Rex shakes his head.

“So what do you think happened, then?”

Vader turns back to him, slow, anger and tension in the line of his shoulders and the grip on his mask. “I think she let you take her sabers. I think she was never injured at all, and that you made this plan together with her. And I think you know where she is now.”

Rex stares at him, understanding both the danger of Vader’s incorrect assumption and the safety it offers both Ahsoka and Organa - he has no idea where Ahsoka is, no idea how he would even find her, and Vader will waste his time looking for a connection to Ahsoka and leave Organa alone. So he pauses long enough, snorts, says, “I don’t. I have no idea where she is,” knowing that Vader will not believe him, and also knowing that he’s not lying and that Ahsoka will be safe.

Vader’s face sets in a hard glare, all danger, before he reaches up and fits back on his mask, hiding what’s familiar about his face. “Don’t worry, Captain,” he says, his voice gone back to all machine, “if you cannot tell me where she’s hiding herself, she will come for you, I think. And then we will _all_ revisit this conversation.”

Rex’s blood runs cold, but he tries to tell himself that Vader is wrong. That Ahsoka won’t know he’s here, and won’t come for him, and will stay safe. “We haven’t spoken since I took her sabers,” he says, determined. “She’s not going to come, and I can’t tell you where she is.”

Vader’s head tilts, slightly, and he rasps a chuckle. “Come now, Rex,” he says, “I think we both know she’ll be here. Things haven’t changed so much.” With that, he strides back out of the cell, and Rex sways a little on his feet and sits down.

Everything’s changed, but Vader is right about one thing - Rex doesn’t think that even after he abandoned her, Ahsoka would ignore the fact that he needs help if Vader baits her with it. He wishes she would. He wishes she was angry or careful enough to leave him here. But he knows better, and so does Vader, and that scares him.

He is alone again for a long time. His cell isn’t on a day and night cycle, it just stays at the same dim light, and Rex sleeps fitfully, wakes up with the pain medicine having worn off, burning pain filling up his stomach and calf and shoulder so that he just wants to curl up and not move again. And for a while he does just lay still and hold his arms around his middle and grit his teeth through the pain. It’s only the knowledge that he’s probably being watched that keeps him from giving in to the pain and the disappointment and anger and letting himself cry.

Vader comes back with questions, about Ahsoka and the rebellion and how Rex kept in contact with them and how he was getting his brothers out. Rex doesn’t answer him except to be angry, because that’s still easiest.

Mostly, Vader is chillingly patient, still, and Rex thinks he knows why. Usually when things challenge Vader, he lashes out, and Rex keeps expecting him to get defensive. But he doesn’t, so Rex believes it’s because Vader is holding something back that he thinks will change matters. That almost makes it worse when the torture starts, then, because Vader comes himself most times, or sometimes it’s just a droid, but in either case it’s all very clinical however furious Rex gets. However much he hurts, they don’t seem to care, however many times he grits out that he doesn’t know a _damn thing,_ Vader just seems pleased with himself.

Rex is not disappointed, anymore, he keeps telling himself. It doesn’t feel like betrayal anymore. It _doesn’t._ He knew this was coming and he knew it would be terrible, but it’s just one more thing. That’s all. He tries to make that be all it is.

But it twists him up more than any capture or torture or pain has before, and he finds it so much harder to stay strong and unmoved. Although he determinedly won’t admit it to himself, the truth is that part of him still can’t believe that this is happening, that Anakin would really do this to him. He knows Vader isn’t really Anakin, he knows that whatever is left of his general is long gone or long broken, but he knows what the face behind the mask looks like and sometimes Vader reminds him that he has brought this on himself, that _now isn’t a time to be stubborn, Rex,_ and it feels horribly jarring and cruel.

Rex cries sometimes when he’s alone, after, when he can hide his face in his knees and shake and try to be quiet because he still doesn’t want them to know how much it hurts.

Eventually, Vader stops asking questions and instead curls his hand into a claw and lifts Rex by the throat so they’re at eye level (it’s vaguely funny how Vader’s new legs give him a few inches of extra height he never had), and tells him coolly that since Rex is not cooperating, Vader will just have to ask Ahsoka to come to them.

Rex rasps out, again, that Ahsoka won’t come. Vader lets go of him, turns away, chuckling. “I know her as well as you do, Captain Rex - better, I think. She’ll be here.”

“You don’t know shit,” Rex snarls, but the door closes behind Vader nonetheless and Rex stands with his hands curled into fists for a moment before cursing and beginning to pace quickly back and forth.

He didn’t save Ahsoka just to get her dragged back to Coruscant, she should know that, she should know he doesn’t want her to come.

But it won’t matter to her, he knows her that well.

(Unless, maybe, he wonders just once, maybe she is angry with him and feels as if he abandoned her, and so maybe she will leave him alone too, and he’s ashamed of himself for thinking it and also somehow ashamed of himself for hating the idea that she might not come.)


	5. Chapter 5

A long, silent few days pass. Rex is alone, and his blaster wounds and the newer injuries get a chance to heal over, although they still ache and burn, and he’s worried they may be getting infected. He paces a lot, and watches the door, every small noise setting him on edge. His nightmares are populated with images of Vader walking back into his cell with Ahsoka behind him, or with her coming for him and helping him escape only for both of them to be trapped worse than they were before. Worst of all are the night cycles when he dreams that no one ever comes back for him at all.

Then, finally, after what he thinks is either four or five days, he is woken up from a fitful sleep by a familiar, discordant sound - the sputtering, noisy hum of a lightsaber blade cutting through metal.

He’s on his feet so quickly it almost doesn’t hurt, staring at the burning blade piercing halfway through the door of his cell - in fact, the blade itself is white, not a color he’s seen before, and he steps back, staring. It’s got to be Ahsoka, he doesn’t know who else it would be, but he doesn’t recognize the saber.

Whoever it is finishes cutting a rough circle, and Rex hurries back away from the door because, in true Jedi fashion, the cut-out piece is slammed out of the door and crashes into the back wall of the cell with a resounding clang before sliding to the floor with a shriek of metal on metal.

Rex tightens his arm around his stomach, straightens, in a terrible mix of hope and fear. The figure who steps through the door is tall, taller than him, he thinks, slender although their form is obscured by layers of jackets and wraps and gloves and an elaborate mask with narrow eye slits that lock their expression in a scowl. They are carrying one silvery lightsaber, which they switch off and clip to their belt under their jacket, and Rex just looks at them a moment, a little too afraid to ask who they are, then says quietly, “Ahsoka?”

“How hurt are you?” the Jedi answers, and Rex is disappointed to realize that their mask obscures their voice with a vocoder - the voice sounds feminine, but although Rex doesn’t know who else would have come for him except Ahsoka, he can’t tell if the voice would be the same without the distortion. The lack of confirmation is strange and doesn’t sit right with him.

“Give me a blaster and I’ll be fine,” he answers, nodding. “You know this is a trap?”

“Of course,” she says, and Rex is quite pleased when she does in fact produce a blaster from where it had been hidden under their jacket. It’s one of the newer Imperial standard-issue blaster pistols, which makes Rex grimace when he takes it, but it’ll do.

Something about that seems to amuse the Jedi, because she laughs shortly and turns around to climb back out of the cell. Rex settles the pistol comfortably in his palm, takes a steadying breath, and makes himself walk without limping and carefully climb through the hole in the door, eyeing it dubiously as he stands out in the hall with the Jedi. “You didn’t pick a quiet way in, did you,” he says, dryly, then looks around.

He doesn’t recognize precisely where they are, but he knows where the prison block is on Coruscant, in the expanded Imperial military headquarters. It doesn’t look as if he’s anywhere else - he’s had concerns that maybe Vader would have transferred him somewhere else, somewhere more secure or at least somewhere he wasn’t familiar with, but it seems that Vader’s concern wasn’t making him hard to find. Someone getting in wasn’t meant to be the hard part, Rex is sure. Now that they’re trying to leave again, he expects everything to go to shit.

“You’re welcome,” retorts the Jedi, and Rex laughs, winces, and gestures down the hall.

“Do you know how to get out of the prison block?” he asks. “I think I know how we can get a headstart, leave a way that’s less obvious.”

She agrees, leads him down several long hallways while Rex watches her and tries to decide whether or not to ask her again if she’s Ahsoka, if she came for him, if he needs to warn her what’s going on - because if she doesn’t know Vader was Anakin, and it is her, he has to tell her. But she would have told him, wouldn’t she? He doesn’t know, and decides that it’s better to save his questions for when they’re out of here and safe. Besides, even if this isn’t Ahsoka (which he doubts, somewhat), it’s definitely someone she sent.

Before they make it away from the prison block entirely, but when they’re close enough to it that Rex thinks he can take the lead, there’s a shrill scream of warning sirens, the cold white lighting in the halls flashing to red. He looks at the Jedi, then gestures. “This way, quick.”

“No ventilation shafts,” she tells him, which makes him more sure that this must be Ahsoka.

“Do I look like I can fit in them?” Rex asks, snorting. “Got a better plan.”

His plan, in fact, is still risky. He grits his teeth in pain as they run for one of the lifts and take it up to the highest level of the prison. When the lift doors open, they come face to face with a squadron of the dumbass natborn troopers, who really have never learned how to fight Jedi and don’t know what to do when the Jedi at Rex’s side draws her white saber and deflects all of their bolts back into their ranks like scattering hailstones. Rex shoots from just behind her, past the blur of her saber into the stormtroopers, and once the minimal advantage the troopers had gained by catching them in the lift is gone, they make short work of them.

“Do you have a ship?” Rex asks her, and she snorts a little.

“Of course I do.”

Rex smiles slightly. “Can they get us a pickup?”

The Jedi seems to take a moment to think about what he’s saying, then shakes her head slightly. “Is this why we’re going to the roof, on the off chance my ship could come get us?”

“Yeah.” Rex shrugs. “Otherwise I guess I could stand being thrown off, that would work too.” Hypothetically. Assuming Vader or Rex’s brothers aren’t waiting for them in the courtyard of the headquarters. But as much as Rex hates heights and hates having to jump from them, he doesn’t think it’s a move people usually expect - even when those people are Anakin Skywalker. Vader knows he doesn’t like heights.

But that isn’t Rex’s plan. That’s the backup if this Jedi has no better ideas or at least, no pilot for her ship besides herself.

The Jedi shakes her head. “I could call us a ride out, sure, but there’s no guarantee we wouldn’t be shot down right away.”

“You’re the one who walked into a trap.” Rex walks down the hall towards the small door and set of stairs that lead out onto the roof - the door is locked, but he shoots out the lock with a couple blasts and starts up the stairs. She’s right, of course - calling in a ship for a ride out means her pilot’ll have to be good, and they’ll have to be fast, and then they’ll have to ditch her ship as soon as possible for another - all that assuming they get away in the first place. But it’s better than trying to get out on foot. “You got a good pilot?”

She makes an uncertain noise, following him. “Sort of.”

“Shit.” Rex’s leg is burning, but he figures he’s been worse off before. They can’t afford to slow down for him right now. “Ping them anyway.”

He puts his shoulder to the door out onto the roof, finds that it opens easily, and as he does he hears the Jedi behind him take a sharp inhale that rattles in her vocoder. “Rex, stop,” she says, but the door’s already half open and he knows already what’s waiting for them before he goes still, frozen with his hand on the door handle, unwilling to open it the rest of the way.

“Back up,” he says, quietly, but when he glances back the Jedi is looking the way they came and there’s a sound of blasters priming and five of Rex’s brothers block the bottom of the stairwell. They don’t shoot, though, and Rex isn’t surprised.

He does the only thing he can think of - he grabs the Jedi’s hand, looks her dead in the eyes. “Vader used to be Anakin Skywalker,” he says, low and serious, knowing that if this is Ahsoka he’ll regret telling her like this but it’s important she knows. “I don’t think he wants us- me dead, just yet, but that doesn’t mean we’re safe.”

The _vode_ behind them haven’t moved or fired, which tells Rex that they’re almost there more for show than anything else. Vader knows what they’re going to do next, and for now it’ll be best to just play along and hope this works by some gods-damned miracle. The Jedi’s just looking at him, silently, for a long moment, and that’s when Rex decides that he knows this is Ahsoka, as strange as it feels. He takes a deep breath, braces himself and lifts his blaster a little, nods at her. “After you,” he says, with a small smile and a loose imitation of a salute, and she raises her saber and then, reaching to her belt, unclips another saber and ignites it with a hum that sounds loud in the stairwell.

Rex turns and points his blaster at the brothers behind them while Ahsoka moves past him, and he follows her with an eye on the troopers as she pushes the door open, sunlight filtering in past her.

Rex doesn’t turn completely away from his brothers until they’re both out in the sunlight, and then, just behind Ahsoka at her shoulder, he pushes the door shut and looks across the roof.

Vader is standing several meters away, perfectly still except for when the wind tugs at the cloak around his shoulders. He’s holding his saber in one hand, but it’s not ignited yet. Rex knows that doesn’t mean much. The rest of Rex’s brothers are positioned behind Vader, their blasters up. It occurs to Rex, suddenly, that he still doesn’t think he could fight them, but he isn’t so sure about Ahsoka’s reservations.

Ahsoka drops into the ready stance that had grown so familiar during the war, her sabers up, her knees bent like she’s about to spring forward, and Rex raises his blaster and points it at Vader because he knows he can’t kill his _vode._

“Ahsoka Tano,” Vader says, voice rasping. His mask is still cracked where Rex hit him, which gives him no small amount of satisfaction. “Funny, Captain Rex said you wouldn’t come.” His masked face turns toward Rex, and Rex just knows he’s being smug. Damned _demagolka._

Ahsoka doesn’t reply except to shift her weight forward and tilt her head. “Let us pass, Vader.” It’s more a threat than anything, which tightens a band of anxiety around Rex’s chest. He has great faith in Ahsoka’s skills, but he’s seen what Vader can do. Vader is something more powerful and brutal than Skywalker was. Rex glances at Ahsoka, wishes he had more time to explain everything.

Vader still has not lit his saber. “I’ve been looking for you,” he says, and Rex hears something cajoling creeping into the mechanical voice, and if he didn’t know much, much better he’d call it almost pleading. “You’ve always known you didn’t belong with the Jedi, Ahsoka, why share their fate? I have much more to teach you, still.”

“You are not my Master,” Ahsoka says, lowly, and Rex has only that warning before she has charged toward Vader, and Vader ignites his saber, meets her charge without even moving.

Rex expects his brothers to begin shooting, but they don't, even as Ahsoka leaps back away from Vader after a few testing, sharp blows. But it makes sense - if his brothers were fighting too, Rex isn't sure they'd be able to get out of this, but Vader, he thinks, wants to do this himself.

But Rex has no such qualms himself, and so takes the opening to fire at Vader, aiming for the panels of his suit and the mask and breathing apparatus. Vader parries almost without looking, of course, but as Ahsoka rushes in to engage again, Rex continues shooting. He knows he won’t hit Ahsoka, not if he’s careful, and she’ll need all the help she can get.

An extraction is on the way, he’s sure, but that won’t matter if she gets overwhelmed before it can arrive.

One of his blaster bolts skims Vader’s arm, barely singing his sleeve, and Vader’s head turns briefly towards him and he shoots a hand out, a concussive wave of the Force hitting Rex so hard that he’s almost thrown back - but he’s used to the Force after all this time, and instead he just skids on his heel and stumbles back, pressing a hand to the ground to catch himself, his blaster still held up. His leg and side burn, but he pushes himself back up and raises his blaster again.

Vader has Ahsoka backed up towards his _vode,_ who appear tense but are, as of yet, not firing, and she’s holding off his single blade with an effort, arms visibly straining. Suddenly, harsh, Vader slams his other hand out in a claw, and one of the comm antennas snaps and comes hurtling at Ahsoka, who is forced to yank one of her sabers away from Vader’s and, his saber dipping toward her throat, slice the antenna in half so it doesn’t hit them. Snarling, she drops down and lunges away, nearly crashing into the waiting _vode_ before she rights herself and leaps into a roll, past Vader, who is not as fast as her and merely turns on his heel, waiting while she distances herself from him again. Rex strides forward, towards her, as she drops into another crouch, panting and (he thinks) assessing the situation. Vader straightens, lets his saber drop to his side.

“Don’t be foolish,” he tells them, his voice echoing over the roof, threatening. “I am offering both of you a chance to choose. My Master is willing to let you live, if you will serve at my side.”

“Go to hells,” Rex snarls, pained and tired of Vader trying to talk as if they belong to him. “I don’t owe you any gods-damned loyalty, Vader.”

Ahsoka is quiet, as if she could deny who she is now, to either of them.

Vader tilts his head again and takes several heavy steps forward. Rex tenses, tightens his hand around his borrowed blaster. “The Republic has fallen to something better. You both know that the old idea of a corrupt Republic should not hold your loyalty after all they’ve done to you. What we have created is far better.”

Ahsoka scoffs, although the sound is pained, too. “The Empire is a disease.”

“It’s done worse than the Republic ever did,” Rex adds, fierce.

“So be it.” Vader raises his hand, signals to the Fist, _take them,_ and Rex grabs Ahsoka by the arm and drags her back around the doorway, trying to get the stairwell structure between them and his brothers, as there’s the sound of blasters priming and then the muffled sound of stun blasts firing. Ahsoka deflects the stun pulses, and they run, towards the opposite end of the roof. Rex sees why, as they do, because she checks her wrist and then a nondescript, slim transport is incoming, at speeds too high to allow them to land in the hangar.

Rex glances at Ahsoka, then sets his back to the edge of the roof and lets her step in front of him as Vader and the Fist catch up to them. His brothers fire, all at once, and Ahsoka crouches and her sabers blur into blinding light as she deflects the blasts. Vader strides forward to attack again, faster this time, so Rex grits his teeth and just starts firing past Ahsoka as he comes, although not a single bolt makes it past his guard.

Vader hits them with unrestrained intensity, like a wave, as Rex has seen him do to many Jedi before. He slams Rex back into the wall at the edge of the roof with a wave of the Force, and Rex’s back cracks against the duracrete, so hard that he sees stars and crashes onto his side, unable to catch himself fully. It’s hard to get up, then, his injuries burning from torture and blaster wounds and exhaustion. Vader is battering at Ahsoka’s defenses, hard, so Rex shifts and aims his blaster and fires, his bolt hitting true in Vader’s knee joint so that the Sith staggers, takes a saber cut to the shoulder, and has to drop almost all of his weight onto his other leg.

Ahsoka takes advantage of the opening with a fierce series of strikes, and Rex staggers to his feet and glances back.

The transport is almost here, although it’s being fired on by guard turrets and more alarms are going off, and Rex steps back closer to the edge of the roof again and shouts, “Jedi!”

She glances back, briefly, sees him and the ship and nods, then throws all her energy against Vader.

Rex hasn’t seen such an intense fight for years, not even working in Vader’s Fist, the two of them just a blur of light and color, Vader like a rock as Ahsoka flashes in and out of his reach like lightning.

Rex doesn’t even know how it happens, when it does.

As the transport engines grow so loud they drown out everything else, and he sees the ship circling low about to pass by, boarding ramp lowered, Ahsoka cries out, drops one saber, and stumbles, arm clutched around her ribs. Rex lunges forward, grabs her fallen saber, and clumsily ignites it, even though she still hasn’t dropped her other saber’s guard.

The transport sweeps close, low.

“Jump,” Rex snaps, at Ahsoka, fierce, “I’ll be behind you, kriffing _jump.”_

He feels her hesitate, but there’s no time to argue and so, almost too late still, she turns and springs off the roof, lands safe if unsteady on the transport ramp. The ship whips past, and Rex’s heart sinks, but he knows they’ll come back around. He knows.

He straightens, looks at Vader and raises his blaster and Ahsoka’s saber, both. He’s not getting stuck here this time, he won’t, he’d do anything else first.

For a moment, while the transport circles, Vader doesn’t move, just signals for a small handful of the Fist who carry heavier blasters to step out and fire at the transport. He cocks his head at Rex. “Enough, Captain,” he says. “Surrender.”

“Never,” Rex answers, and, tracking the transport as it sweeps closer one more, tightens his hand around the saber hilt, fires three times at Vader’s head, and runs.

Stun blasts instantly flare and dissipate around him, most of which he deflects quite by accident while he sprints along the edge of the roof towards the transport. He shoots to his left, at his brothers, nearly slipping as he hears some bolts hit home. A real blaster bolt, not a stun blast, clips his thigh, and he trips, running out of space to flee, but he catches himself on the wall, vaults up onto it and pushes himself on. Seeing the transport still several meters away from the edge of the roof even though there’s nothing but open space in front of him, he grits his teeth, drops his blaster, and leaps as far as he can towards the ship.

He would have missed the ramp altogether, but a strong hand wraps around his wrist, and he swears as his bad shoulder is jolted nearly out of socket when his whole weight comes to rest on that one arm.

But, above him, nearly lying flat on the boarding ramp, is Cody, holding tightly to his forearm and swearing like an unarmed smuggler.

Cody hauls him up and drags him back into the transport, and Rex collapses back against the wall of the ship as the bay doors and ramp close again and the transport lists violently to one side. “You idiot,” Cody snarls, grabbing Rex’s shoulder, looking him over with intense, searching eyes, his other hand probing at Rex’s many injuries with surprising care. “You damned idiot, I’m gonna kill you. Stop trying to act like a hero.” He sounds terrified, under the aggression, and Rex doesn’t even care.

 _“Ori’vod,”_ he rasps, and wraps his hand around the back of Cody’s neck, tugs him close to press their foreheads together, hard. “Gods, I thought I wasn’t going to see you again.”

“Whose fault was that?” Cody spits, but he’s softening.

Rex shifts and puts both arms around him, tightly, resting his chin on Cody’s shoulder. He’s missed his brothers, so much, but Cody most of all. “I know. Mine. But I really didn’t mean to get caught, Codes.”

“Don’t you kriffing do that to me again.”

“Okay.”

Ahsoka is piloting, and gods is she ever piloting - Cody makes Rex sit down in the hold of the transport and starts clumsily applying bacta and bandages and doing the minimal medical treatment he knows how to do, and it feels as though they’re constantly grabbing onto things to hang on as the ship takes wild turns and dives. Ahsoka’s piloting has improved, Rex thinks, because there’s no way this would work otherwise.

In the end, though, everything quiets down, except for the jolt and hum of the ship jumping into hyperspace, and Cody finishes bandaging the worst of Rex’s wounds.

And that’s when Ahsoka comes back.

The mask and extra layers and hood are all gone, and she walks into the hold with slow, measured steps as if trying not to seem nervous, but her eyes are guardedly hopeful and there’s a nervous smile playing at the corners of her mouth. Rex sits up, straighter, anxiety and relief going ashen in his stomach, and all he can think to do is pick up her lightsaber and hold it out in his palm, towards her. “I saved it this time,” he says, managing a smile.

Ahsoka nearly tackles him. She’s crossed the space to him so fast that he can only grunt a little in pain as she flings her arms around his shoulders and hugs him tight. She’s buried her face in his neck, and he can feel that she’s trembling just a little, but she’s almost laughing, too.

Rex hugs her back, fingers curling in her jacket, and breathes in and out as best he can. She’s here, she’s really here. They’re alright.

“Don’t you ever do that to me again,” she snaps, pushing back from him after a moment, which makes Cody snort and Rex smile, although it sends a stab of guilt through him.

“Which part?” he asks, half teasing, half regretful. “I’m sorry, Ahsoka, I didn’t want to tell you about- Vader that way, I shouldn’t have left you, I-”

“I told her about Vader already,” Cody interjects.

Rex sighs, slumps. “Right. Okay.”

Ahsoka’s expression has gone harder and more vulnerable all at once. She sits back on her heels, shakes her head. “We don’t have to talk about that now.”

Rex thinks she means Vader, but he isn’t ready to let go of his apologies yet. He abandoned her, took her sabers, and then he was used as bait to drag her into a trap, and he doesn’t regret it but he knows she must be angry. “Still,” he says, “I’m sorry, Ahsoka, I-” He looks down. “I didn’t mean to leave you alone. I thought you’d have people.” _I thought you’d have Skywalker, and Amidala, maybe Kenobi if we were lucky, some of the other Jedi. But there’s no one left now._

“I know.” Ahsoka looks more serious, folds her hands together neatly in her lap. “I do understand, Rex, you know that. I’ve seen everyone you got out.”

“You have?” Rex has thought that she must be keeping herself well away from the resistance and the Core worlds and the Empire, so how can she have seen his brothers? As a matter of fact, why is she here with Cody of all people? Is she in contact with Organa?

Ahsoka laughs, slightly, at him. “Rex,” she says, “I work with Bail these days. I- I even spoke to you, once, I couldn’t tell you.”

It takes Rex a long moment to remember, and piece things together, and then he laughs too, outright, more shocked than anything else. “You were Fulcrum, weren’t you? Gods, Ahsoka.”

Ahsoka smiles at him. “Yes, but please try to keep that down,” she tells him, amusement bright in her eyes.

Rex laughs again and then reaches over, touches her injured ribs, careful, gentle. “You idiot,” he says. “You could have gotten killed, Ahsoka.”

“But I wasn’t,” she tells him, raising an eyebrow, unphased by his concern, lips twitching just a little with a hint at an amused smile. Rex can’t pull his eyes away from her face, which looks so different, but still like _her._ She goes more serious, and he realizes maybe he’s been staring, for too long, but when he lets his hand slip from her ribs to her hip, and shifts closer, she meets him suddenly, pressing a kiss to his lips, cupping her palm against his cheek, fingers carding against his scalp where his hair has grown too long.

Rex just kisses her back, holding on tight, till he almost can’t breathe.

“Gods, I missed you,” he whispers, when he can get a breath, leaning his forehead against hers. He’s half-aware that Cody has quietly walked away for the moment, although he knows he’ll be back in a moment to finish looking at both of their injuries as best he can.

Ahsoka smiles at him, her fingers slipping through his hair, which almost makes him want to apologize for its length. As if they care right now. “I missed you too.”

Rex chuckles and sits back, and as if on cue Cody comes back and makes Ahsoka lean against the wall of the hold so he can look at her ribs too.

After several stops to change ships and several misleading hyperlane changes, they finally make atmo over Alderaan, landing at a quiet spaceport away from the main business centers. Ahsoka puts her mask back on, Cody covers his face too, and Rex is given a jacket with a hood. They’re welcome here, Ahsoka says, but it’s always best not to take risks, and to give the people who know they’re there plausible deniability – best if people can honestly say they’ve never seen fugitives here.

At last Ahsoka takes them to an apartment building in the center of the city, up several floors in unnatural quiet, and when at last they step out of the lift of the building into a sitting room, taking their masks off, Rex’s breath leaves him in a punched-out exhale.

His brothers are all waiting in the room, in civvies, chatting quietly, and almost all at once they turn to look, and then they all get to their feet if they aren’t standing already. There’s Jesse, and Brii, and Boil and Gregor and Wolffe and Kix and Bly and Denal and half a dozen others, smiles breaking across their faces, and Rex swallows, feels Cody tighten his arm around him, supportive.

“Welcome back, Captain,” Kix says, pride thick in his voice, and Rex swallows as the rest of them raise their hands in salute.

He’s home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not pictured: Immediately after seeing everyone, Rex bursts into tears and needs to be hugged by literally everyone. He cries a lot for a while. It's okay.
> 
> Rex almost went renegade and ignored my plan and chose to stay in the Empire and pretend to help Vader to save Ahsoka. He was planning to assassinate Vader. As dramatic as that would be, I had to make him behave. I did also consider capturing both Ahsoka and Rex, but it was time to send Rex home. Still, I love this kind of angst and I'm sad the story is over.
> 
> Thank you all for reading along! If anyone has any questions or comments you can of course hit me up in the comments or over on my Tumblr. :)


End file.
